• Syria's prime minister, Riyad Hijab, has become the highest-ranking official to defect from the Assad regime. His spokesman said he had fled to Jordan with several members of his family, including two brothers who were also ministers. Officials in Jordan confirmed the defection.

• The Syrian government claimed Hijab, who is a Sunni and was appointed at the end of June, had been sacked and replaced by a caretaker prime minister. Hijab's spokesman dismissed this as a "lie", and urged other officials to follow suit. He claimed Hijab had fled with help from the Free Syrian Army, in an operation that was more than two months in planning.

Holy crap! The Assad regime seems to be loosing a lot of key players. Don't know how much longer he can hang on to power, but a rad Muslim replacement regime with chemical weapons is by far a more threatening prospect than Assad.
The west funding al-Qaeda is just so ƒükkêd up. Yesterdays bad guys are tomorrows good guys?